The Alliance presents the vanguard conference every five years, inviting the nation’s leading performers and scholars to present and discuss Black participation in the Arts, both past and present. The October anniversary conference will focus mainly on Social Justice and the Harlem Renaissance Centennial Observation. Session topics include the study, performance, and support of art songs by African American composers. In addition, the Alliance will present solicited lectures, posters, composers and performers for peer review.

The 25th-anniversary conference will also pay particular attention to women composers. 2022 marks the half-centennial since the death of Margaret Bonds, an American composer, pianist, arranger and teacher who was one of the first Black composers and performers to gain recognition in the United States. The conference will present lectures and performances about Bonds and her musical contributions.

The event is possible thanks to generous funding from the Hampsong Foundation, LA Opera and the Flora Family Foundation.

To learn more about the African American Art Song Alliance, visit their website at https://artsongalliance.org.

Note: All times are in Pacific Time. Only events held in Winifred Smith Hall will be live-streamed. Events in other rooms will be recorded and uploaded to the Art Song Alliance YouTube Channel as quickly as possible.

Thursday, October 13
(PDF of Thursday’s Full Program)

7:00 PM
African Diaspora – Caribbean, Central and South America

Memory, Nostalgia, and Resistance: Art Songs by Afro-Latin Composers
Patricia Caicedo

“Lisette” (Haitian Creole)
Jean Bernard Cerin

Exploding the Canon and Beyond
Michael Harper

Friday, October 14
(PDF of Friday’s Full Program)

9:00 AM
Plenary Session

Welcome and Introduction, Darryl Taylor
Welcome, Dean Tiffany Lopez, Claire Trevor School of the Arts
Chronology: Hansonia Caldwell
Keynote address “Lift Every Voice…Why African Americans Stand”
Marvin Curtis, Indiana University, South Bend

Awards presentations:
Willis Patterson Award for Excellence in Research, presented by Susheel Bibbs
George Shirley Award for Excellence in Performance, presented by Louise Toppin
Adams-Owens Composition Prize, presented by Shawn Okpebholo

11:00 AM
Panel Discussion
Creating Omar for Los Angeles Opera

Moderator: Christopher Koelsch, General Director, LA Opera
Michael Abels, Co-Composer, Kaneza Schaal,Stage Director,
Christopher Myers, Scenic Designer

Arias from Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels
Jamez McCorkle, tenor as Omar
and other Los Angeles Opera Young Artists

1:00 PM
Fires of Justice (Performance)
Program here

2:00 PM
“Rights of Passage and Presence: Urban Renaissance and the Sonic Construction of a Black Movement” (Lecture)
Max Jefferson

3:00 PM
Soul and Reconciliation (Performance)
Program here

5:30 PM
“The Hyers Sisters: Voices of Freedom” (Performance and Discussion)
Susheel Bibbs, soprano and filmmaker
Katie Franklin Ledsinger, piano

6:00 PM
Master Class
Louise Toppin, The University of Michigan
Program here

8:00 PM
My Sister’s Keeper: Celebrating the 150th Birthday of Paul Laurence Dunbar (Performance)
Minnita Daniel-Cox, Marcía Porter, Alexis Davis-Hazell and Rosalyn Wright Floyd
Program here

Saturday, October 15
(PDF of Saturday’s Full Program)

8:15 AM
“A Century of Musical Perspectives on Georgia Douglas Johnson” (Lecture-Recital)
Gwynne Kuhner Brown and Dawn Padula

10:00 AM
In Memorium – Dorothy Rudd Moore (Performance)
Program here

4:00 PM
Composers’ Forum (Panel Discussion)
Louise Toppin, Moderator

5:30 PM
A Salute to Margaret Bonds (1913 – 1972) (Performance)

8:00 PM
For the Love of Langston (Performance)

Sunday, October 16
(PDF of Sunday’s Full Program)

10:00 AM
“Tools for Improvisation/Interpretation: Sing Your Soul” (Workshop)
Trineice Robinson

11:30 AM
The UniverSOUL Language: Italian, French, Creole, and German Songs by African American Composers (Performance)
Christopher C. Jordan and Cindy St. Clair